Investments for $25 Million Secured by XJet from Autodesk Spark

With investments such as those in Carbon3D’s CLIP and Voxel8’s 3D printed electronics, Autodesk Spark has become a quality seal for new 3D printing technologies, even before it will become the “universal 3D print button”.

The company has just announced the completion of an additional round of funding for $25 million. Companies in the field of 3D printing have received much attention recently, particularly those within the metal additive manufacturing arena, which has shown tremendous growth. The funding round was led by the Catalyst CEL Fund, a private Israeli-Chinese private equity fund and Autodesk, Inc., a leader in 3D design engineering and entertainment software, through its Spark Investment Fund, as well as other existing shareholders.

“XJet is the first company to succeed in using 3D inkjet printing to make metal parts of the highest quality,” said Dror Danai, Xjet CBO, and 3D printing industry veteran. “This area has great potential to meet the growing demand for producing short runs of metal parts. XJet’s innovative technology uses metal nanoparticles which generate precision parts with complex geometries for use in a variety of applications in aerospace, automotive, medicine, dental and other industries.”

Investments in the Future of Metal 3D Printing

Xjet’s ground-breaking technology called NanoParticle Jettinguses nanoparticles in liquid suspension to build 3D metal parts. The technology enables amore accurate production of highly complex parts than that of other current technologies. XJet changed its focus from the solar arena to concentrate exclusively on the development of a solution for the metal additive manufacturing industry during the last two years.

“Our support of XJet through the Spark Investment Fund stems from our belief that this technology has the potential to change the future of the additive manufacturing industry,” said Eitan Tsarfati, head of Digital Manufacturing and general manager, Autodesk Israel. “Autodesk Israel’s Development Center is focused on driving breakthroughs in the future of making things, and we are proud to work with companies such as XJet that likewise are pushing the limits of manufacturing technologies to accelerate a new industrial revolution.”

The current round of funding will be used to complete the development of and to launch XJet products into main international markets. The investors in previous rounds included Gemini Israel Ventures, Landa Ventures, Applied Materials, Good Energies and Chinese investors. In 2014, the Company raised an additional $22 million from Alumot and from existing shareholders to complete the changes in direction of the technology from solar to 3D metal printing.

XJet is located in the Rehovot Science Park, Israel. It was founded by Hanan Gothait, a serial entrepreneur and veteran of the inkjet printing industry. Gothait was a co-founder of Objet Geometries, which later merged with Stratasys. Xjet has more than 60 employees, including a large number of veteran leaders of the 3D printing industry and has filed over fifty patents in various fields.

“This additional round of funding is another vote of confidence in XJet and will ensure our position as a leader in the 3D metal printing arena,” said Hanan Gothait, CEO and Founder XJet. “We believe that XJet will redefine the production of short-runs of complex metal parts in major areas of production. Furthermore, the participation of a leading private equity fund such as CATALYST CEL Fund as well as Autodesk is a further show of commitment in innovative three-dimensional technology.”

Autodesk is a global leader of 3D design software that develops software for cloud services and applications for a wide range of industries such as architecture, engineering, infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, automotive, entertainment and media, interior design and digital art. The Catalyst CEL Fund is the first dedicated Israel-China private equity fund, which was established in partnership with Catalyst Private Equity, a leading Israeli private equity firm and China Everbright Limited, a leading Hong Kong based asset manager. The Fund is represented by managing partner Yair Shamir who was appointed Chairman of XJet. The Fund supports the growth and market entry of Israeli companies into Greater China and thus acts as an important gateway between Israeli innovation and the Chinese economy.

Xjet anticipates exhibiting its technology in the U.S. at RAPID 2016, in Orlando on May 17, 2016, and later in Germany later in the year at a major tradeshow.